


NaruHina Month 2k15

by ColdNeon



Category: Naruto
Genre: But it's there, F/M, NaruHina Month, not much, some smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-01-03
Updated: 2015-01-09
Packaged: 2018-03-05 04:06:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,586
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3105014
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ColdNeon/pseuds/ColdNeon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Short compilation of the ficlets I wrote for this years NaruHina month. Built from the prompts at naruhinamonths.tumblr.com</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Passing Days

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 3: College AU

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Admittedly, I didn't do much about the college part in this one, but still, it's there.

The first few months of college are always a wild ride for all involved, especially for first-years. Between the getting used to the new system of classes and the difference in the teaching style, it can leave many feeling disoriented and disillusioned with their goals of a future in tertiary education. Not Naruto Uzumaki. He’d spent most of his first week bursting in late to classes, disrupting professors, pissing off other students and trying to avoid paying for books by sneaking peaks at everyone else’s. In that time alone he’d managed to cause one fire evacuation, fall down a flight of stairs in a lecture hall and be slapped 3 different times by 2 girls and one very indignant boy. The whole process had left him dazed and a little confused but by no measure upset or down.

Because once class had ended for the day, he’d go to the coffee shop and sit in the same place and talk to one particular girl. Hinata Hyuuga, a quiet, but determined girl he’d met on his first day of classes. They came from completely different backgrounds, with Hinata’s father running a large scale law firm, that had been passed down through several generations, as opposed to Naruto, who’d been raised in an orphanage after his parent’s had died in a tragic fire when he was only 3. He’d never had much, but he never lost his smile. Through every hardship, every detention, and every single time he’d been made fun of for being poor, he’d never let them under his skin. When he’d turned 18 and could finally access the money his parents had left him all those years ago, he’d immediately put it into a college fund, and spent that year focussing on getting the best grades he could. It had nearly broken him, but he’d made it in the end.

Throughout his highschool years, he’d had off and on relationships, nothing really coming to much out of them. Hell, he’d only had his first time whilst under the influence and he’d regretted it the next morning when his head had finally cleared of the haze. He’d always been insecure about his appearance and his unruly hair so to have someone who cared about him was a source of constant worry. Until he’d met Hinata, he’d always worried that someone could never look at him and think to themselves, “Wow.” That is, until he met Hinata. They’d been in that coffee shop in their introductory week and he’d noticed that she ordered a similar drink to him, so he resolved to try and say something to her. Unfortunately, he’d only seen her from behind, and when he’d approached her, she’d had her face down, reading a book. When he’d coughed to get her attention, he’d felt a violent flush creep up his neck. The girl in front of him completely flustered him, her raven hair, her pale, odd looking amethyst eyes and her small jaw.

He was so taken aback that he’d been stunned into silence, resulting in a very awkward moment where the two of them had stared at each for a good five seconds before quickly turning away, Naruto mumbling an apology for staring. After the awkwardness had subsided a little, Naruto had joined her at the table, making some short small talk. Abruptly, after about twenty minutes, Hinata had gone bright red, stood up and darted out of the café, leaving a very confused boy behind, his mouth slightly ajar. One he jumped out of his seat and went outside, the dark-haired girl was nowhere to be seen, which left one extremely frustrated blonde-haired boy.

After that first encounter, he’d spent the next day asking around about her, until he’d finally met Kiba Inuzuka, who’d informed him that yes, she was his friend, and no, he wouldn’t give him her number no matter how much he begged. Frustrated, Naruto had decided to revisit the café in an attempt to see her again, and sure enough, his bet had paid off. She rocked up at the same time and had made the same order, before noticing him. Oddly enough, she’d joined him, even though she didn’t say anything. The two had drunk quietly, with Naruto taking the silence as an opportunity to work on some maths problems from his class, before she’d spoken up.

“Kiba told me that you asked about me,” she had quietly murmured, slightly rushed, as if in a hurry to get the topic over and done with.

“Oh, uh yeah! I did, I was hoping that I hadn’t scared you, or embarrassed you, y’know?” He’d shrugged, trying to alleviate his nervousness. She’d smiled a bit over her coffee at that and they’d returned to the silence once again, only this time, it was a far more comfortable and relaxed silence.

That encounter had led to the two agreeing to meet up every day for the rest of the week, culminating in one last late night on the Sunday. The two had been drinking coffee until the barista had started to glare quite hostilely at the two of them and they had solemnly left the storm and out into the cool night air. Naruto found himself exhaling quietly and staring at the girl, enthralled by how the night light reflected off her light skin and it almost gave her the impression of glowing in the dark. Swiftly, he stepped in as smoothly as he could and looked into her eyes, smirking a little at the rush of red to her face. As gently as he could, he leaned in, hoping that she wouldn’t shove him off, until their lips met.

It was short and sweet, not too long and not all that passionate. But it left the pair gasping when they broke apart. Naruto found the most genuine smile gracing his face, and a similar one being mirrored upon Hinata’s. Gently he reached out his hand, and took hers in his, before leading her down the path, their fingers slowly intertwining tightly. Naruto would later reflect that it was probably the best start to college he could have hoped for.


	2. The Seven Smiles of Naruto Uzumaki

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day Four: "Smiles"

Hinata had noticed that there were a lot of smiles that people could have in her 20 years of life. She herself had many that she could use depending on the situation, but what she loved most of all were seeing other people’s different smiles. Which meant, when she first went on a blind date with Naruto Uzumaki, she had tried to remember each of them, in their intrinsic details, with their small traits that no one else would notice if they were only casually watching.

His first, most common smile was the one he wore on a day to basis. It was a big, heart-warming grin, which brought out his dimples and laugh lines of his face, and it was almost permanently on his face. The first time she’d ever seen it, he’d been telling a joke about catfish and lobsters and to this day, she still couldn’t remember exactly how the joke went, or what the punch-line was. All she could remember was the way his smile had first curved upwards as he’d delivered the punch-line and it was a moment that she’d realised that there was something very special about him, more so than all the guys she’d met in bars and clubs. He was not confident but kind, not arrogant or completely up himself, nor entangled in his masculinity. It was comforting, after being around a lot of arrogant men, who’d always be talking about their gym routines or cars, to just be around someone who simply liked to talk and joke and not have everything about him.

The second smile was one that she’d first spotted when the two had been walking through the city aquarium together, on their third date. It wasn’t the usual stretching one that was so commonly plastered across his face, but a small content one, one that carried warmth to it. It had graced his face when Hinata had been quietly talking about her experience with jellyfish and how’d she’d had a large one sting her when she was just a little girl. As she’d lamented about how much the stings had hurt her and how she’d had to pour the warm water on the wounds on her own, Naruto’s small smile confused her. Interested to know what had prompted the expression, she jabbed him in the ribs with her finger, looking up at him. He’d looked down at her, the expression not changing bar a small chuckle, and told it was that he enjoyed listening to her the sound of her voice so much. She’d blushed, he’d laughed and they’d continued their walk through the quiet aquarium, smiling and giggling the whole way.

The encounter which had led to the third smile was a little less positive. Hinata had planned met up with Naruto at a party and when she arrived, had found Naruto with a random (very drunk brunette) hanging off his every word and giggling at things that weren’t even jokes. When she came closer, the smile on his face was not a comfortable one; it was a lopsided thing where he looked quite uncomfortable, which was not common for him. As she’d approached, the uncomfortable semi-smile (as she’d later refer to it) had dropped and a great look of relief had washed across her boyfriend’s face. As soon as she was in range, he grabbed her wrist and yanked her into his arms, giving her a big kiss and hugging her tight. The girl had an expression resembling a snarl before she whirled off into the crowd, leaving the two alone.  Dancing gently, Naruto had whispered into her ear, thanking her for saving him from the drunken girl and her flirtatiousness.  The two had quietly danced the night away, ignoring all the other partygoers and had left hand in hand.

The next smile was the first time they had sex, which was after a quiet date wherein she’d invited him into her flat. They’d passionately started kissing, hands rushing to explore each other’s bodies, Naruto’s shirt flying across the room, losing two buttons in the process.  The two could almost not get their clothes off fast enough, with his tie being loosely hung around his neck and being whipped over his shoulder. Hinata’s bra hooked round a lamp and he smirked, before hissing as she kissed into his neck, harsh sucking that was far beyond the soft passionate kisses that the two had been so regularly sharing since they’d started dating. The two shimmied slowly backwards until the fell backwards onto the couch, giggling, with their naked bodies pressed together. It was at that moment that he’d reared back and looked into her eyes, and the corner of his mouth had twitched upwards into a smirk, which wasn’t something she’d seen before. That smirk had been a recurring factor throughout the rest of the night and even though it was a clumsy first time, a little rough, a little uncomfortable, it had made everything just a little bit better.  As they’d held hands together, bathed in the moonlight, she’d smiled and watched as he slowly went to sleep, before drifting off into the night herself.

 The next one was a bitter one that Hinata didn’t particular care to think about, nor see, at all if possible. It was the sad smile. After dating for a year and a half, the two had found themselves fighting more regularly, over more petty things, like Naruto staying out late with Sasuke, or Hinata not texting for a few days. The fights ended up culminating in the two breaking up, with Naruto being the one to cut the cord. There was the awkwardness of the two coming for the stuff that they left at each other’s place and they’d ended up having sex, which left the two of them even more miserable then before. As the blonde finished buttoning up his shirt, Hinata had looked into his eyes and he had the saddest smile on his face, showing off his less energetic playful side, showing instead the sad, unwanted side that he never let shine. He’d picked up his box of stuff and as he began to grace the hallway, he’d looked back for the briefest moment as she asked if he’d want to see her again. That smile once again, the corners of his mouth conveying so much, his eyebrows loosely moving, before he shrugged and walked out the door without a word.

His sixth smile was a nasty one that she’d only seen once, not that she’d wanted to. One night whilst walking home, two men had assailed Hinata, and even though she’d hit the first one hard with a palm thrust to his jugular, his partner had managed to pin her up against a wall, a hand on her throat and a knife thrust next to her face. Eyes widening, she’d felt her blood chilled, worried about what would come next. However, things apparently weren’t going to go the horrible route that they could have, when there was a loud crash and bang and the assailant that she’d hit staggered backwards, blood dripping down his face. The shadow that had hit him grabbed her aggressor and threw him to the ground and that’s when the light from the moon showed the face of her protector. It was Naruto and he looked pissed. His face was set in stone and he slammed the man against the wall as she slowly stepped down, coughing as her throat reacted to the lack of pressure upon it. When she turned around, the other guy was running down the street, whilst Naruto had the other man pinned against the wall, so tightly held that the man was starting to change colour, evident even in the faint light. The two were conversing quietly and then Naruto dropped him hard on the ground, before smiling viciously, a slasher smile if she had ever seen one. The man, with a look on his face that was completely terror, ran flat out down the pavement.  When he turned back to face her, the expression was there for a split second before it disappeared, as he’d flashed to her side, embracing her and whispering into her hair, begging her to be safe. The two had stood on the cold footpath alone and cried together, before returning to her apartment and falling to sleep in each other’s arms.

The final smile was one they’d exchanged on the day of their wedding, almost three years later. It was a smile she’d never seen before, as she would never be able to describe it, even when their son and daughter had begged her to. It was beyond words, but she would treasure it every day for the rest of their lives, and it was the very last thing that she ever thought of on the day that was her last and as she passed, it was with a smile to match it.


	3. The Ramenbowl

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 5 - "Ramen"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short and sweet.

Food is something that makes the world go round. Everyone has their favourite type of food, be it something sweet to fill those cravings or fill the void when a relationship ends, or something spicy enough to leave them sweltering. But what makes a favourite food? For Naruto, it had been something that had just clicked, from the very first time that he’d grabbed one off the shelf from the grocery store.  His obsession had only spiralled from there, going from pre-dried ramen onto store made ramen, which led to him coming to the obvious conclusion; there was nowhere in Konoha which had better ramen than Ichiraku’s.

Over the many years that had followed, Naruto had experimented with his tastes in ramen, with many failures, the most notable being the famous “This isn’t miso ramen” fiasco, which had led to a screaming match between Ayame and the blonde haired genin, four smashed bowls, a flower exhibit from Ino’s shop being destroyed, three trashed shop fronts and Naruto being smashed into the ground hard by a fuming Sakura. It was then decreed that no one would ever try to change Naruto’s regular order, not even if it was decreed “humourous” by Sai. No, no one would ever come between Naruto and his ramen. Not Sakura, with her constant nagging about how he would turn into a bowl of ramen or his mother’s posthumous request could break that true connection between it.  He’d even had a slight insecurity that if he ever found someone to love him that they'd try and talk him out of the obsession.

So when Naruto had first started dating Hinata, he’d found himself fretting at every turn, especially when it came to his first love; ramen. The first time she’d cooked, it had been a surprise. He’d arrived at home to the smell and sound of cooking and he’d found himself knocking upon his own apartment door. When the door swung open, the raven haired girl stood on tiptoes and their lips gently connected, brushing together in that wonderful way that nothing else could quite replicate. Without saying anything, she pulled him inside gently, walking him to the table and she gently pointed at the food upon it.

The two sat gently down and Naruto smiled before thanking her for the food and lifting the lid finding a small bowl of miso ramen soup with a small pork cutlet inside it. Even as the delectable scent filled his nose and started his mouth watering, he found himself looking across at the girl in front of him, and he wondered how he’d been so lucky to meet her. Even though the meal hadn’t been perfect (it certainly was no Ichiraku’s), it was tidy, neat and filling and it was the first of many bowls of ramen that the two would share. He would even jokingly refer to their marriage as the winning of the ramen-bowl in years to come, and the two would laugh and continue to share their food.


	4. Naming is a struggle

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 6 - Pregnancy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another short one, woo, party.

When she’d first announced her pregnancy to Naruto, Hinata had no real idea what his response would be, and she sure as hell hadn’t expected him to freeze and look at her with something resembling horror on his face. There’d been silence in the room before it had exploded, with such an extreme wave of enthusiasm that two picture frames had shattered, he’d slipped off the bed and hit his head and she could almost imagine that her hair was flaring cartoonishly behind her. Bouncing on top of the bed had seemed like a good idea, but when the person jumping in question is very tall and has the enthusiasm of a child, the final outcome is not going to be a good one.

Giggling, Hinata rolled off the bed and landed on top of her beloved, smirking at the ‘Oomph’ sound he made when she landed on top of him, the impact not that hard given the small drop. The two lovingly embraced, with the woman gently nuzzling her head under his. The two managed a total of 3 minutes peace before Naruto suddenly stood up dramatically, his short hair a mess, before thrusting a finger upwards. A glorious grin spread across his face and he shouted loudly, “We shall name our child Neji!” His voice is so loud and unnecessarily dramatic that Hinata gently giggled into her hand.

“Oh, but Naruto-kun, what if our child is a girl?” Her giggles reach a pinnacle when Naruto smirks and looks at her with that silly expression, before he shakes his head and furrows his eyebrows.

“Neji is a fine name for our daughter as well!” His declaration is so utterly nonsensical that Hinata rolled to her side, laughing uncontrollably. Smirking gently, he slid down beside her and jabbed a finger into her ribs, tickling her mercilessly. The giggling starts to strangle her breathing so she takes advantage of a brief lull to smack Naruto with her palm, knocking him back into the bed, before she starts tickling him in his one ticklish spot; the backs of his knees. What happened next was so graphic and violent that it could not be accurately described with words, but what remained after the onslaught was one hiccupping Naruto and one very flushed Hinata, dark hair thoroughly ruffled and filled with knots.

The couple lay on the floor, fingers interlocking gently, an old habit when the two of them were feeling needy. After a while, Hinata realised Naruto had tears rolling down his face, that beautiful face marred by years of sadness and hardship. Squeeing his hand, the young lady leaned in, kissing each of his cheeks, before she noticed that his mouth was not in that shimmery stoic expression that he often wore when thinking of the people he’d lost, but rather a smile. “Naruto-kun, what’s wrong?” She could barely fathom what he could be thinking of with such an odd expression on his face.

“I’m just think about how mum and dad would have loved to be here. And how what I wanted most when I was a kid as a family, and here we are, starting one, y’know?” He laughs, wiping at his cheeks, in an attempt to remove some of the stains running down his tanned cheeks. “And I’m so lucky to have you, and your love, and I’m so happy that our kids will get to have our love.” Her heart could explode from the words, the purity and earnest in them making her want to join in with the crying.

“I-I’m lucky to have you too Naruto-kun.”

“Hinata, I think we should name our child Boruto, if it’s a boy, y’know? He won’t be Neji, but he’ll be tough just like him. He’ll make his uncle proud from up there.” Hinata couldn’t hold back the tears any longer, and the two held each other, letting the tears of grief and happiness flow, the simple scene being quite, and quaint, but just right. 


	5. Plans and Rooftops

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 7 -Wedding Planning

Throughout her 22 years of life, Hinata had found that a lot of people had a list of things that they hated and those lists would vary, from short to long. Some like Sakura had a seemingly endless list of things that enraged them, from people to buildings to food, whereas some like her fiancé Naruto apparently had a list with barely two things on it. Hinata had always found herself leaning on the same side as her love, not really having a reason to hate and loathe things, rather, finding the beauty in a great deal of things. Once she started seeing and dating Naruto, his influence had started to rub off on her. She found herself being less negative, even when things were bad, and let herself become more guided by her emotions. However, there was still one thing that she loathed and that was wedding planning.

Even though she’d never know it up until she’d been forced into it, she loathed everything about it. The family contributions, the awful gifts from cousins who felt obligated to give something, getting an outfit organised, it was all hellish. She could understand why some people would enjoy all the micro-organising, but it just wasn’t her. If she was able to, she would have completely skipped the whole process and been married to Naruto in a quite grove of trees outside Konoha, but with her family and clan behind her, there was simply no way that she could avoid a large ceremony. If it wasn’t for the constant support of her friends, she would have given up on the whole thing and tried to elope with Naruto. Thanks to Ino’s ability to multitask into oblivion and Tenten’s eye for details, things had begun to run a little smoother.

What was starting to concern her was the groom and his best man’s handling of things. The two had been seen barhopping throughout the town and not attending to any of the tasks that they had been set by one very strict Sakura and one very pissed off Temari. The last time Hinata had seen Temari, she’d been storming off, fan in hand, cursing under her breath about how much trouble it was to take care of the idiot, and she’d had to stifle a snicker at how the Nara’s vocabulary had started to work its way into Temari’s everyday language. Hinata dawdled off down the street, hoping to spot her lover, but as she wandered the busy streets she could see no sign of him. It was only after wandering in circles for a solid while that she realised that she hadn’t been looking upwards and she almost instantly spotted Naruto and Shikamaru perched upon a rooftop, each with a beer in hand.

Slowly, Hinata made her way up to the roof, not particularly comfortable jumping around in a dress that could flash the many perverts of Konoha, so she gently scaled the building. Hopping up behind the two men, Hinata quietly walked across to them, smiling as the two conversed loudly about their lives. It seemed that at this moment, she had managed to catch them talking about Temari and given the slight flush in Shikamaru’s face; the conversation was on a very lewd topic. Naruto had a smirk on his face and was taking a sip from his beer. Freezing temporarily, Hinata decided to listen in for a little while longer, to see if she came up in the conversation. Laughing gently, Shikamaru looked up at the sky.

“It’s just crazy Naruto. To think that I would end up just like dad, finding a troublesome woman who I want to keep around, it’s crazy, isn’t it?” Naruto shrugged, running a hand through his hair.

“I dunno man, it’s like. One day your life is all normal and tame, and the next you have this beautiful girl and you find yourself realising, ‘shit, she loves me too’ and it’s just the best thing.” Hinata found a hot flush running upwards through her neck as she heard the utter reverence in his words. “And y’know, you find yourself thinking about just how beautiful she is, and how hot she is in the sheets and you just keep going ‘how did I earn this?’”

Shikamaru looks at Naruto sideways, with that trademark smile on his face.

“Naruto, if anyone in the world has earned a beautiful woman, I’d say it would definitely have to be you.” The blonde haired man looked up and laughed, but let Shikamaru go on, “I mean it’s not like you can earn a perfect girl, but Hinata is basically just about there. Not that Temari isn’t great or anything.” Suddenly he froze, realising what he’d just said and Naruto started laughing with that old laugh of his. The awkward moment prompts Hinata to step forwards and place her forehead on Naruto’s shoulder.

“Now that you boys have finished your manly conversation, maybe you can get back to the task at hand,” she whispered into the blonde’s neck, “Because believe it or not, I hate this as much as you, and I have no urge to drag it out any longer than it needs to be so let’s get it done, alright?” Naruto nods up and down, his hand gently scratching the back of head, before he pulled her into a gentle kiss. Shikamaru twists his feet awkwardly in the dirt, before hearing the loud landing of Temari and her stalking over to him. The blonde and blue haired couple quickly slink off the roof, detecting the start of a “fight-then-screw” Shika Temari moment coming up. As Hinata led Naruto into the flower store and the big smile of Ino, she finally felt that  maybe wedding planning might come off her list of things that she hates.


	6. 9 Ways the Secret Lovers were found

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Day 8 - "Secret Lovers"

Word always travelled quickly in the Hidden Village of the Leaves.  Be it the latest pregnancy, the newest drunken tomfoolery, people would always know about it within the day. So usually when two people started to see each other, even on dates that were unsuccessful, word would spread like wildfire. One villager would spot it, and then discuss it with a merchant, who would tell far more people, and before you know it, the whole village would be alive with the scandal, even if it wasn’t necessarily scandalous. This is why, when Hinata and Naruto had first started to see each other in the aftermath of the invasion of Konoha, the realisation no one had noticed or even known until long after it had first happened had left people questioning how the two had managed to keep their relationship completely under wraps.

Shino had been the first to spot the signs. Hinata had started to arrive later at some training sessions and was often sporting dark rings under her eyes, a big difference from her usually immaculate skin. At first, the insect breeder had assumed that the girl had simply been training late into the nights, but it was only when she came to a morning training session sporting a scarf, for no apparent reason that he’d twigged that something might be going off. Initially, he’d simply shafted the idea, assuming the scarf was some sort of covering for her neck to keep her throat warm, the usual use for a muffler.  However, it hadn’t escaped his sharp eyes that every half hour or so, she’d stop training and quickly readjust the muffler, making sure to keep her jawline especially covered. After a while, Shino had simply given up on the investigation, knowing that if the situation was serious enough, Hinata would let himself and Kiba know. Team 8 was a family unit and none of them would so willingly turn their backs on each other, even to keep a secret.

Tenten was the next one to notice an incongruity in the behaviour of the two ninja, specifically Naruto. He’d always been bubbly and energetic, but for some time, she’d noticed that he was downright euphoric, barely able to contain his enthusiasm about the smallest of topics, from flowers collected by children, to academy reports, even to paperwork for the Sixth Hokage. It was simply a continuous stream of happiness and she was quite unnerved by it. At first, she suspected that finally he’d snapped, and Gai and Lee’s influence had finally taken an unerring hold on his personality and warped it into their uncool determined mannerisms. Still, it had started the gears spinning in her head and she soon found herself watching the young man, and noticed that he was having long periods of vagueness, where he’d stare into the distance and not talk, merely have a smile and glazed expression on his face and it was something she’d come to notice as a typical boy’s sign of love. The pieces had finally fallen into place one day when she’d noticed him observing a certain member of the Hyuuga clan.

Although he’d never admit it, Kiba had been a bit slow on the uptake between the relationship changes of the two. He’d never really been bothered enough to care who was seeing each other in the village so to him, anyone dating should be left to do so. So when he’d first heard Shino’s theory that Hinata might be seeing someone, he’d shrugged it off, dismissing it as nonsense. After all, there was only one person she was interested in, and given his history as a blockhead? The chances of the two finding each other (let alone managing to coordinate dates), were abysmal. The first time he’d actually noticed something off was during a drinking session with Naruto at the inn, wherein upon the group of men (Shikamaru, Naruto, Chouji and himelf), had been discussing their experiences with women and the people in their lives. Shikamaru had been quite forthcoming about the intimate details, telling wilder and more incomprehensible stories as the alcohol truly started to take effect. Chouji had remained quiet, mentioning briefly that he’d met a Cloud-nin who was pretty nice and had refused to go into detail beyond that. Kiba himself had been talking about a few girls that he’d hooked up with, but when he’d prompted Naruto, the blonde had simply brushed him off. No amount of teasing had been able to bring him out, not even the mentioning of the Sasuke-kiss incident, which was usually a sure-fire to get him to get heated under the collar. This time, Naruto simply smirked and had continued to drink, ignoring all the ridicule and mockery. After the moment, Kiba couldn’t shake the idea that maybe something was happening between the Uzumaki and Hyuuga clan member.

Shikamaru didn’t like to even acknowledge the fact that people could occasionally thwart his intellect and planning, but when the two had started to sneak around, he’d completely overlooked the identical hiding of a relationship. After all, he had run a similar scheme to keep his own relationship with Temari on the down-low. The two had themselves been out on a date when they ran into Naruto, with his hair askew, cheeks flushed and jacket awkwardly done up, and his pants on backwards. Temari had smirked and commented about how the next Hokage would be coming to work with his robes on backwards and lose all the villages paperwork, meaning that the job of collating and rescuing things would fall on Shikamaru. The joke at his expense had managed to distract him from the very suspicious lack of explanation by Naruto. He’d made a number of investigations which resulted in him even staking out the Uzumaki’s apartment one night and only spotted him returning. He’d had an inkling of who was responsible for the man’s midnight adventures and ruffled clothes, but he’d had no certain ways to prove it on any level, so he’d dropped it.

There was one person in Konoha who was everyone’s port of call when it came to gossip, relationship advice and plotting, and that was Ino Yamanaka. The hard-headed woman took no shit when it came to people’s opinions of her, so she was always on the lookout for new stories to spread, so of course she’d noticed when the two ninja had started to act a little differently. Her main sign had been Hinata’s bouncing step and brightness. She’d only seen the kunoichi this happy on a few select occasions and there was no known evidence for this one, so she’d become instantly suspicious. The next clue had come when Naruto himself had come in just before closing to ask for a few select flowers, including a white lily, a flower that Ino knew was loved by the Hyuuga. After that, a bit of arm twisting and a quick discussion with both perpetrators, Ino was practically sure that the two were seeing each other, if not sleeping together. Except just as she was about to spill the beans, wherein she’d usually start giggling over the fact with her friends, the Yamanaka sat on it, more curious to see how the two lovers would out themselves to the public.

Chouji had never claimed to be a ladies’ man, nor would he ever attest to the fact. He simply wanted a girl who would love him for him and him alone, and when he finally met Karui, it was like that had all come true. It had been a slow relationship, but a pure one, the two bonding over a variety of things, most commonly their interest in cooking. So when Naruto had rocked up at his place one night, slightly drunk and with a confused expression on his face, Chouji had been immensely taken aback. The two had then proceeded to have their most heartfelt and intense conversation to date, in which Naruto had drilled him for date information, stuff about how he’d met Karui, how he’d know that he cared about her and so on. After they’d finished, the Akimichi had looked at Naruto and begun to ask him what had brought on such a sudden interest in girls and their interests, but the blonde had rushed off into the night, with a simple wave.

When Sakura had grown up, she’d always been around her family who were clan-less. They didn’t fit into the rest of the clan hierarchy, and she’d never seen romances outside of her parents so she had never been viewed as a relationship expert. She didn’t even really know how to handle her feelings of attraction towards boys, so she’d never been subtle. It was trait that she’d been loath to admit that she shared with her comrade Naruto. So when he’d slowly stopped asking her out on dates, she’d known that that path had gone. Now that he’d started acting suspiciously, noticeably enough that he was even happier than normal? Sakura was determined to take the time to figure out who he’s going after and whether the two would work. Obviously after his adventures and heroics during the war, Naruto was a well-known face within the village and he had his fair share of admirers, so narrowing down the list of candidates had taken its toll on the young lady, but after a solid week of wading through potential lovers, she’d come up blank until she realised that there was only one person she’d overlooked; the most obvious one of them all. With a smirk and a wink, she’d smacked Naruto on the back at the end of the day, leaving one very bemused blonde wondering what had just happened.

Rock Lee loved to see love bloom! After all, it was one of the most important aspects of youth. One could not have pure youth without love; that was simply farfetched! So when he’d first heard the whispers of Naruto and Hinata finding each other, he’d been ecstatic!  He’d made it his mission to aid the two in their endeavours and keep the heat off them from the rest of the village, by creating distractions with himself at the center. They varied from small to large and had earned him the wrath of Tenten on multiple occasions, but at least he could rest easy knowing that his distractions had taken some of the attention off them!

Relationships were hard for Sasuke Uchiha and he was sure that if he lived to be as old as one of the elders that he wouldn’t understand them. When he was younger, so many girls had fallen for him that he’d been frustrated and disgusted by them, eventually finding himself running from them at every turn. So he would freely admit that hearing that Naruto had copped some fangirls of his own that would follow him everywhere had made him laugh. However, when he returned to the village for a short stopover before setting out again, Sakura’s mentioning that Naruto had found a girl to sneak around with in the shadows had caused him to spit his drink out all over the pink haired girl, much to her disgust. It seems like a lot had happened during his exodus and it seemed like that was the signal for him to leave again, given the fury that had grown upon Sakura’s face.

Sure, the village had still found out about the secret lovers, but they’d also given them a lot of respect and good memories about the time when the two hadn’t been brave enough to be open about their relationship.


End file.
